Biography, 2010

from Concert Organists International

Widely recognized for his “passionate and brilliant” style, International Concert Organist J. David Hart has concertized extensively throughout the United States, including solo performances and engagements at major churches, universities and institutions including New York’s Riverside Church and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1989. As an international recording artist and performer, Mr. Hart has received stunning reviews in Germany, Holland, Great Britain, Canada and Australia. He has been a featured performer with distinguished American symphony orchestras and professional ensembles under conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Robert Page (declaring that “even as a student [Hart] was awesome!”), Lorin Maazel, Istvan Jaray, Sir Andrew Davis, James Paul, Keith Lockhart, Zdenek Macal, Lorenzo Malfatti (Italy’s Opera Barga) and Skitch Henderson (former NBC Orchestra conductor for the Tonight Show). Hart’s solo performances with these esteemed conductors include Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Liuzzi’s Laude, Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony No. 3 in C minor and several of Handel’s Organ Concerti. Mr. Hart was also organist for the American premiere of Sir Michael Tippett’s The Mask of Time.

As conductor, Mr. Hart has led full orchestral performances of such choral masterpieces as Bach’s Mass in B minor, Mozart’s Requiem and Solemn Vespers, Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum, Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis and Rossini’s Stabat Mater. A frequent transcriptionist of oratorios, he has performed many of these large works on the organ, including Brahms’ Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and St. Paul, Handel’s Messiah and Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem.

A former National Treasurer and Regional Councillor of the American Guild of Organists, he is a Fellow of that organization and received the highest score nationally in the Associateship exam. As a young student, he was an honors graduate of St. Edmund’s Academy where he was the recipient of the prestigious Veeder Award, and he later graduated from Shady Side Academy. Mr. Hart earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and later was appointed a member of its eminent music faculty where he served until 1990. He also presided as College Organist and Organ Instructor for the Laboratory School of Music at Chatham College from 1984 to 1991. His organ teachers include Donald Wilkins, Robert Anderson and Frederick Swann, who observes that Hart “is an exceptional performer.” Among his numerous honors and awards, he was the recipient of the Tuesday Musical Club scholarship for three successive years. Robert Croan, writer for Opera News, refers to Hart’s “technical virtuosity on the organ and other keyboard instruments. Most significant, perhaps, is his consummate musical comprehension, years of experience and a total dedication to the art of music.”

Hailed as a skilled improvisateur, Mr. Hart has played concerts, led workshops and taught master-classes for Conventions and Chapters of the American Guild of Organists, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians and other denominational organizations. For 19 years, Mr. Hart served the well-known Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, first as Assistant Organist later as Director of Music and Organist where he led one of the nation’s distinguished music programs. Regarding his tenure at Shadyside Church, Pastor Emeritus Dr. F. Morgan Roberts says of Mr. Hart, “His musical abilities are extraordinary -- he is at the very top of my list of the very few and very finest staff members with whom it has been my privilege to work across the 49 years of my ministry.” At. the invitation of Dr. Bruce Monroe Robison, Rector, and Peter J. Luley, Organist and Choirmaster, he served as Artist-in-Residence at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Highland Park, Pittsburgh.

From 2000 until 2008, Mr. Hart served as Company Artist for Johannus Orgelbouw of the Netherlands. In 2004, Mr. Hart founded Musical-Arts, LLC and serves as its Managing Director. In March, 2005, he was one of five international artists to perform on a DVD recorded in Feike Asma Hall, Johannus Orgelbouw b.v., Holland which has been released in Europe and the US. Mr. Hart also recorded a CD featuring the Johannus Monarke series.He has eleven other CD's to his credit as well as three DVD's, including a series entitled The 21st Century Church Musician.

The Choral setting of Adoro te devote, composed for the Choir of Shadyside Presbyterian Church during Mr. Hart's tenure there, has been published by Cantica Nova Publications. His setting of It is Well with My Soul, contained in Volume I of his two published collections of Six Hymn Improvisations, has been requested by thousands of musicians throughout the world. In March, 2007, Mr. Hart's tour of Germany, under the auspices of Hey-Orgelbau, received rave reviews. While there, he recorded a CD on the organ of St. Kilian's Church, Mellrichstadt, magnificently build by Hey-Orgelbau. In 2007, Mr. Hart was the featured organist in the new DVD, Johannus in Worship. Also in 2007, he received further acclaim for his concert tour of Australia.

Mr. Hart resides in Tampa Bay, Florida.

J. David Hart

International Concert Organist Improvisateur, Recording Artist, Composer and Conductor